Services

sacred notes in a secular world

Menu

My Reed-making Space

I live in a small studio, so I can’t have a typical practice area-reeds area space. To partially solve this, what I did was to go to the local Walmart and purchase a small folding table and chair. It is

more than sufficient to be home for all of my essential reed-making tools while out of the tackle box, has room enough for my magnifying lamp, and also provides me a view of the outdoors! You can see my Reeds’nStuff double-hollow knife, Howarth reed case, and my Ando knife and burnishing rod sheathed.

Currently, my reed-making level is to purchase shaped cane from dealers and go from there; tie my own reeds and shape, shape, shape! I’m working with Mack-Pfeiffer shaped cane at the moment, as I’m experimenting with no.3 staples. The Mack-Pfeiffer is a wider shape versus the Rigotti that I was using previously, and ties better to the tube. Our local CCM teacher Dr. Mark Ostoich, developed a special no.3 staple – the Ostoich staple – in conjunction with Chiarugi and Double or Nothing Reeds.

All of which is a heck of alot more than I could do a few months ago ~ I’ve managed to be able to get the reed to peep, and then I work on them with my teacher. Eventually, I plan on getting a shaper tip and handle and go to the next logical level of making them. I am uncertain if I will ever get to making reeds from purely raw cane… but who knows. On the opposite side of thinking, Legere could come out with an amazing American scrape synthetic reed, and I’ll never have to make another reed! Below are my two main knives, the Reeds’nStuff DHG Herder knife and the Ando chisel knife:

I use the Ando knife for most of the reed “body” and heavy-duty work, and the Herder knife for finessing the tip of the reed. Biggest problem for me right now? SHARP KNIVES!